KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Hi parents

Just a thought. Many of us want our kids to do IB. Has anyone considered IB in an International school like: SJI International or ACS International? Its a little expensive but its one option. Besides mixing with children from all over the world is a good way to globalise them. Your views? Thanks

Truth Hurts wrote:Hi parents

Just a thought. Many of us want our kids to do IB. Has anyone considered IB in an International school like: SJI International or ACS International? Its a little expensive but its one option. Besides mixing with children from all over the world is a good way to globalise them. Your views? Thanks

We chose the other way. After her PSLE results last year, my daughter had the choice between schools that would lead to either IB or 'A' levels. We chose 'A' levels for a variety of reasons, mainly because it's a tried and true option in Singapore, and also because we are a little uncomfortable with the heavier weightage on assignments/papers (IB) rather than exams ('A' levels). As far as we can see, with the requirement of a contrasting subject and project work at 'A' level, the difference between the coverage and learning opportunities of IB vs 'A' levels is not that much, at least not enough to matter to us. That's just our personal view, and my daughter was willing to follow our recommendation. In terms with mixing with other nationalities, we have lived overseas all her life and she will only return to Singapore at 14yo, so we prefer to have her in a Singapore school with Singaporean classmates. I'm not sure if I would think differently if we had lived in Singapore all the time.

Truth Hurts wrote:Hi parents

Just a thought. Many of us want our kids to do IB. Has anyone considered IB in an International school like: SJI International or ACS International? Its a little expensive but its one option. Besides mixing with children from all over the world is a good way to globalise them. Your views? Thanks

I don't know but international is really that good..

Is money a problem for you all?

Truth Hurts wrote:Hi parents
Just a thought. Many of us want our kids to do IB. Has anyone considered IB in an International school like: SJI International or ACS International? Its a little expensive but its one option. Besides mixing with children from all over the world is a good way to globalise them. Your views? Thanks

Pros - international exposure, good class size, more attention, less stress, less need for tuition (hopefully), more vocal, speak less Singlish and speak more proper English.

Cons - High cost (S$2xK/year alone for school fees), 17-20% score 40 and above (vs minimum 50% in ACSI IB), be prepared to send the kids overseas eventually, influence on behaviour and attitude in a bid to belong, hole in parents' pockets to keep up with Jones, must put in more efforts to maintain life long friendships as the friends may return to own countries or stay abroad eventually.

Just curious, what is the school fee per month in SJI international and ACS International? What is the class size?

justbehappy wrote:Just curious, what is the school fee per month in SJI international and ACS International? What is the class size?

Not sure about ACS International's school fees.
SJI International's is $23,438 per year (2 installments).
Hwa Chong International's is $21,400 per year (2 installments).
These doesn't include admin fee, acceptance fee, etc as far as I know.

Class sizes in international schools are generally smaller as compared to MOE schools - they are typically around 30 students. At one of the international schools mentioned above, their A math class this year had only 15 students - plenty of student-teacher interaction!

Snow Crystal wrote:

Truth Hurts wrote:Hi parents
Just a thought. Many of us want our kids to do IB. Has anyone considered IB in an International school like: SJI International or ACS International? Its a little expensive but its one option. Besides mixing with children from all over the world is a good way to globalise them. Your views? Thanks

Pros - international exposure, good class size, more attention, less stress, less need for tuition (hopefully), more vocal, speak less Singlish and speak more proper English.

Cons - High cost (S$2xK/year alone for school fees), 17-20% score 40 and above (vs minimum 50% in ACSI IB), be prepared to send the kids overseas eventually, influence on behaviour and attitude in a bid to belong, hole in parents' pockets to keep up with Jones, must put in more efforts to maintain life long friendships as the friends may return to own countries or stay abroad eventually.

Agree on the pros & cons; I have seen quite a few kids and they display similar behaviour.

I totally agree on the behaviour and attitude part. Most of the residents in my location are foreigners and DD attended pre-school in a predominately internationalised environment. She did Japanese along with Chinese at pre-school. Alternative was other European languages. Even though she was only 3-4 years old, the influence on behaviour and attitude was obvious. Took her out after a year.

In terms of language use, it was a choice between Singlish or swear words.